Back to Black
by EvanSol0919
Summary: "And with one look into those beautifully hypnotic violet eyes… Ichigo knew what was going to happen before it did… just like that first night…" Ichigo's thoughts from chapter 459, "The Death and the Strawberry 2"


Warning, DO NOT READ THIS IF YOU HAVEN'T READ THE LATEST CHAPTER! If you haven't, go read it NOW! It's actually GOOD!

Spoiler: OH YEAH! RUKIA IS BACK AND WITH A NEW HAIR CUT!

It's about TIME the plot gets back on track! Really Kubo, it took you long enough!

This is the first chapter I've loved in ages so I just had to write a one-shot about it.

Let me know how I did! I'm just on a writing spree!

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He had been stabbed through the chest more times than he could count… but this had come out of nowhere.

"And that's that," Ginjo said simply with a dark look in his eyes. Ichigo could only stare up at the man who, until a few moments ago, had been his only ally in this mess. And now…

"My 'Book of the End' with one strike allows me to slip my existence into a target's past _however _I choose to. A _second_ strike removes that influence," explained the ever calm Tsukishima.

"I would be operating closest to you, and to prevent you from suspecting me we used that ability to slip Tsukishima into my past… as an _enemy_," Ginjo finished.

"That's not true. You're just horrible at acting. That's why we did it," the other man teased.

"Oh shut up. My acting just there was top notch," the other fullbringer said with annoyance.

"As soon as I cut you again, you started calling Ichigo 'Kurosaki' again," reasoned the scarred one.

"Fuck you!" Ginjo responded elegantly.

He then removed his Cross of the Scaffold from Ichigo's chest… taking his fullbring as well…

The teenager felt all the power he had worked so hard to achieve and so recently acquired leave his body, his substitute badge falling from his numb hand onto the rooftop.

"Oh ho! Here it comes!" the leader of Xcution said with fake enthusiasm.

It was so cold, the orange haired boy's insides chilling with the realization…

"_I wanted to regain my strength. But I couldn't find a single path to power. I could only soldier on… for seventeen months…weak..."_

"_At long last, I thought I found a way. I could finally protect my friends with my own strength. Only…only…"_

"NOOOO!"

Ichigo feel on his hands as despair overtook him, tears springing to his eyes as the heavens opened and wept with him.

This was not the first time he lost everything… but it was so different from before.

The first time, he was sure he was going to die. Then he almost immediately gained more power than he originally possessed and with a clear goal in mind.

The second time had been his choice. Tensa Zangetsu had told him the consequence, the great sacrifice that the Final Getsuga Tenshou would bring… and he had accepted that fate.

But this…

He had been useless for almost _two years_.

It was ironic. For most of his life, Ichigo dreamed of having a normal life, one without the ghosts of the past or the present. And when he finally got it… he was miserable…

Be careful what you wish for indeed.

Then he had met this mysterious man who claimed he could restore what he had lost. It was hardly the first time someone had randomly come up to the seventeen year old, offering him strength. Everything had worked out before, so despite his suspicions, he had agreed to help the fullbringers, trained with them...began to trust them…

Ginjo had done more than promise the return of his powers… he had allowed Ichigo to feel that powerful yet terrible emotion…

Hope.

"Is he crying? I feel so horrible," Tsukishima said sarcastically.

"Let him cry. We've no use for him anymore. It's unlikely we will ever meet him again," the other man said with boredom as he turned to leave.

No… he couldn't leave…

"GIVE IT BACK! GIVE IT BACK, GINJO! GIVE MY POWER BACK!" the boy cried out at the top of his lungs in desperation, almost ready to beg.

"What? You're joking. It's power I gave you back. It belongs to me! I'm sparing your life even though you're useless now. The least you could do is thank me."

"_Sparing my life? This isn't life! Living is meaningless without a purpose behind it! I had a purpose before and you… and you… made me believe again!"_

"Ginjo… GINJO!" Ichigo screamed as he began to rush mindlessly at the retreating man… when he felt a sharp pain coming from his chest…

Looking down… he saw a glowing white sword embedded within him.

His head moved on its own accord, his brown eyes seeing two familiar figures…

"Dad? Urahara-san?" the teenager whispered more to himself than them.

His hand clasped onto the blade his own father had pierced him with.

"So that's it…that is it then? Dad… you too? That's how it is?" Ichigo cried out, feeling more tears fall from his eyes.

After everything that had happened… Yuzu, Karin, Keigo, Mizuiro, Tatsuki, Unagiya-san, the rest of Xcution, Chad, Inoue, Ginjo… now Urahara-san and his own father had betrayed him…

"You idiot," Isshin said to his son. "It wasn't _me_ how stabbed you. Look closely. You should be able to see their form by now. Just who… is holding that sword!"

Slowly a black clad figure became clear… revealing a person Ichigo hadn't seen in over a year… the person who was his support through it all… the person who changed his world…

"Rukia…"

His eyes drunk in the long missed sight, seeing everything at once. Her hair was shorter then he remembered and she was wearing gloves similar to her brother's… as well as a lieutenant's badge tied to her left arm.

There was also a small smile on her features… and with one look into those beautifully hypnotic violet eyes… Ichigo knew what was going to happen before it did… just like that first night…

A smirk that hadn't appeared on his face in so long fell into place… as he closed his eyes and waited…

Warmth filled his body, from head to toe. His muscles expanded as reiatsu flowed into him… his clothing melted away into the robes that signified his identity, even the red rosary beads across his torso returning. His outfit was a little different, with x-shaped bands appearing on his wrists and one crisscrossing his chest and connecting to a collar.

Holding out his right hand, a familiar heavy weight materialized out of nowhere…

"_Zangetsu..."_

The sword was bigger than before. The cloth around the hilt was gone, replaced with a chain similar to the one that was connected to Tensa Zangetsu… but he could feel it... it was still _his_ sword… the manifestation of _his_ soul…

He raised the large blade back into its proper position across his shoulder blades… Ichigo relishing in the feeling of power that came with the simple action...

The light dispersed into smoke revealing a man who had reclaimed his identity as a warrior…

And was ready to fight once more.

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Such a good chapter!

I hope I did an ok job of describing what I thought Ichigo's emotions would be.

Let me know how I did!

Love from EvanSol0919!


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